


a day without sun

by septnanis



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post-Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance, Romance, Spoilers - Kingdom Hearts III
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-20
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-10-13 06:06:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17482586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/septnanis/pseuds/septnanis
Summary: Sora tries to find his place in the world after everything changes.Spoilers for final battle trailer and KH3. Do not read if you don't want to be spoiled in any way.





	a day without sun

So much could happen in six months.

 

Especially after the defeat of a powerful adversary. Worlds could be remade, balance could be restored, lives could be returned. Even in the first few days, when everything was still in a haze of both victory and sorrow, everything seemed to change so quickly.

 

After the battle, all of those who had disappeared had slowly but surely made their way back into the world. It was the King first, his little face overjoyed to see Sora, his big hands clasped around Sora’s own, words of admiration and gratitude pouring out of him. All Sora had done was ask Mickey if he could do something, if there was any place he could look for his friends.

 

There were still Heartless in the worlds, remnants of what had taken place for the past three years. They needed to be taken care of, so true peace could finally be a reality.

 

Even though his heart was heavy a smile remained on Sora’s face. His first stop was Radiant Garden. It had been restored to its former glory, even moreso than the first time he stopped Xehanort and freed Hollow Bastion from its shackles. There he met Lea again. Sora had thrown his arms around him, and cried into the yellow fabric of his sweater. As Lea stood before him looking like just another young man, Sora could almost forget what it had cost to save the worlds.

 

“Kairi’s here, too!” Lea said, leading him up to the castle. She was a princess, Sora was always forgetting that. To him she was just Kairi, one of his most beloved friends, who was bossy and funny and kind and brave. Her being a princess always seemed like such a little thing to find important about her, when there were so many things about her he loved more. “We’ve been trying to get a message out, but the lines between the worlds are still wonky.”

 

He wanted to ask, but he didn’t. Is Riku here? He wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer.

 

Lea would have said so.

 

He must’ve noticed, because he suddenly looked a little tired and sad. “He’s not here.” He knew Sora well, even if he hadn’t known him long. “No one else is here but us. But once the lines are reconnected properly we’ll help you look!”

 

By the time they reached the castle, Sora was almost vibrating out of his skin.

 

When he saw Kairi again, it was like the sun came out, just for a moment. In a flash of dark red and pink she was suddenly in his arms, laughing and crying out his name. “You did it! I knew you would, we all knew you would!” He hadn’t known.

 

_Sora, you don’t believe that._

 

He hadn’t known until it was too late.

 

_I know you don’t._

 

In that moment, Sora basked in the presence of his friend. He wouldn’t let loss overshadow that feeling of triumph, even if it was just for a little while.

 

—-

 

As he made his way through all the worlds, there were so many Heartless remaining. But there was a sense of underlying hope. Any Heartless he vanquished now would no longer be replaced with new ones.

 

In Twilight Town, he was reunited with Roxas and Xion. They claimed to have woken up there a while after the battle. Since then, they’d been trying to figure out a way to get in contact with everyone else. It wasn’t until Lea had shown up and decided that the worlds should all have someone to keep watch over the aftermath.

 

When Sora asked them, have you seen? he didn’t even have to say his name before Xion shook her head slowly and sadly, her fingertips soft and cool against Sora’s own. Roxas, a stoic a presence as he’d ever been, placed his hand against the side of Sora’s bowed head. “You’ll find him, or he’ll find you. You two always end up finding each other in the end.”

 

All those other times, Riku had disappeared behind doors or into dreams. He’d never faded out of existence. It had always been Riku finding Sora. And if he hadn’t found him yet, maybe he never would.

 

_Sora, you don’t believe that._

 

Sora clenched his eyes shut and tried to look like himself even if he didn’t feel like it. “Yeah! He’s gotta be somewhere, right!”

 

_I know you don’t._

 

—-

 

Seeing Donald and Goofy again in Traverse Town made him break down and weep like a child. He knew he was going to be so embarrassed about it later but he couldn’t help himself. Seeing them, alive and real, felt like being turned inside out. He’d always known his friends were everything to him but now as they stood before him, whole and safe, he felt nearly uncontainable relief and joy.

With their arms around him, he wondered, could he feel like this all the time? Did this mean it was going to get better? The more days passed, the more Sora believed peace was really possible. But there was still an unease inside him that made him doubt.

 

“Sora!” Donald said, giving him a soft smack on the head with his staff. “Where is everybody?!” Sora explained who he’d found already.

 

“Gawrsh, so no sign of Riku, huh?” Goofy asked. He didn’t know any better. He didn’t know Sora lay awake at night staring at the ceiling or the sky and missed Riku like he was missing a limb. That Sora sometimes wanted to go home to Destiny Islands and pretend none of this had happened, forget he was a Keyblade Master, until he realised everything about everywhere reminded him of Riku.

 

“Nah, but I bet he’ll show up soon!” Sora said, standing in that triangle with his friends that had always made him feel strong and sure.

 

Maybe after everything, all the times Riku had saved him and protected him and tried so hard to redeem himself for actions Sora had already forgiven him but refused to forgive himself for, Riku didn’t want to come back to his side. Maybe he felt he’d done enough for Sora. He grabbed onto his friends shoulders and shut his eyes.

 

_Sora, you don’t believe that._

 

More tears slipped down his cheeks, and he could no longer tell if they were happy or sad.

 

_I know you don’t._

 

—-

 

His seventeenth birthday was on a morning that felt different somehow. Summer in the Land of Departure was green and fragrant, and it made Sora feel peaceful. He had found Terra, Aqua and Ventus there, a trinity of friends themselves. Aqua’s smile and gentle hands on his shoulder made him feel strong, but Terra’s stoic smile made him miss Riku. Ventus hands in his own made him feel a little better and he stored that feeling in his heart for safekeeping.

 

He’d gotten over pretending Riku was going to come back after he’d seen every face of every friend he’d made so far but his. The King and Kairi wrote to him regularly, Mickey to keep him updated on where to go to keep sweeping up the remaining Heartless problem and Kairi to tell him all the wonderful things she was doing now that they were free of obligations. To wish him a happy birthday. Sora kept those letters in a pocket inside his jacket and read them again whenever he felt lonely.

 

“I’ll go with you, if you want!” She offered in her letter. Sora smiled at it as if he was smiling at her. “We can look for him together!”

 

Three years since he had been swept up in this adventure and for the first time Sora felt his determination slip away. There was nowhere to look, because Riku wasn’t coming back.

 

_Sora, you don’t believe that._

 

The memory of Riku on his knees in the sand in front of him came to him as tangible as if it was happening all over again. Sora should have done more, he should’ve been braver. He may have won, but he won too late. If he had won sooner, Riku wouldn’t have…

 

_I know you don’t._

 

—-

 

Never would he ever play favorites, but Sora loved the Kingdom of Corona. It was so different from home but it felt so familiar. The warm colors, all the long, green, stretching forests and the happy people, it made him feel light and happy.

 

Rapunzel had been ecstatic to see him. He remembered telling Riku about the time Eugene had cut off all her hair even though it killed him and how Rapunzel’s tears had brought him back. Riku had given him a little shove and called him a hopeless romantic. When Sora told him that Eugene claimed to have a thing for brunettes Riku had laughed. _He and I have that in common._

 

How could Sora not be a romantic when his best friend said those kinds of things to him?

 

The Heartless were few in Corona, but well hidden in the thick underbrushes of the forest. But Sora made short work of them. As he worked his way through the remaining shadows, something in him suddenly began to wobble, like a tower of blocks that had been stacked too high. Or maybe it had been wobbling ever since he had defeated Xehanort in a burst of bright light and he had woken to all of his friends scattered to the wind.

 

When he cut down the last Heartless, he fell to his knees as if he had been cut down himself. Panic settled into his bones and his breathing began to speed up. None of this was worth it, if it meant his best friend was gone. Sora should have been the one to go, he should have been stronger. Love was nothing but an ache in his chest and hope was a dream he had that was never going to come true.

 

_Sora,_

 

_Sora,_

 

_Sora,_

 

_Sora,_

 

_Sora, you don’t._

 

_You don’t believe._

 

He collapsed onto the lush green grass, the last thing he saw was the gold shimmering in the air when the Keyblade in his hand disappeared.

 

—-

 

“He’s been sleeping for almost three days,” Rapunzel’s voice pulled him back into consciousness, but he kept his eyes shut. “The physician says he’s just completely worn out but three days is such a long time.”

 

“Thank you, Rapunzel, for taking such good care of him.” It was Kairi. The bed moved when she sat down next to him. He could feel her hands adjusting the blankets on top of him. “He’s always so determined and I think he’s been trying to fill up an empty part of his heart.”

 

“Empty? Oh, you mean… he must really miss him.” Rapunzel’s voice almost made him give himself away. He did miss him, he missed him every day, all the time. Everything reminded him of Riku. The worlds were balanced and reconnected and safe and still, nothing inside Sora felt right anymore. He knew Riku would hate for him to be like this but he couldn’t help it.

 

“Of course. Those two were,” Kairi’s hand was soft and warm when it carded through his hair. “a part of each other. No matter what happened they always found a way back to each other. Sora’s different now, too. He’s much more powerful than he realises. I don’t know whether it will make him stronger or more vulnerable.” He knew that, he could feel it thrumming under his skin, but he’d chosen to ignore it.

 

Unable to keep eavesdropping on the two princesses, Sora squirmed underneath the covers and opened his eyes when Kairi gasped. “Sora! You’re awake!”

 

“Kairi? What are you doing here? What happened?” He knew why she was here, he knew what happened, but he couldn’t bring himself to say it aloud.

 

Kairi gave him a fake, almost comical stern look and took his hand in her own. “You fainted in the forest outside Corona, picking off the last of the Heartless. Seems like you’ve been overworking yourself!” Her fake stern look faded into a soft smile. “You’ve gotta take care of yourself, Sora, he’d want you to, you know that.”

 

After everything that had happened, after the six months of every face he’d seen and smile he’d forced and the lies he’d told himself it was those words out of Kairi’s mouth that broke something in him. His face crumpled as his heart did and a sob burst out of him that looked physically painful. He could barely hear Kairi’s ‘oh, Sora!’ through his sobs, her lithe arms wrapping around him.

 

She didn’t try to shush him or make him feel better. All she did was let him cry and try and make him feel like he could be himself again.

 

It felt like hours that all his sorrow of the last six months kept pouring out of him and he hadn’t thought after three days he could sleep anymore, but eventually his body pulled him under and everything around him fell blessedly dark and silent.

 

—-

 

“Sora,” Someone was shaking him, trying to wake him. Tried to pull him from the nice, quiet dark space he’d fallen into. “Sora, wake up.” It was Rapunzel.

 

He stirred, turned and sat up. Her hand was still on his shoulder. “King Mickey is here to see you, he says it’s urgent.”

 

“I don’t know, Rapunzel,” Sora said, not looking her in the eye. “I’m such a mess, the King won’t want to see me like this. Can’t Kairi talk to him?”

 

Rapunzel shook her head and patted his shoulder before taking a step back. “Kairi had to go back to Radiant Garden, but she’d promise she’d call you when you were up and about.” She sighed when Sora made no move to get up. “Listen, Sora… I don’t really know how you feel. But I know how I felt when Eugene,” She cleared her throat when she saw Sora tense up. “when I lost him. I know how awful it feels. And I only met Riku once, but he seemed like all he really wanted most of all was for you to be happy.” And safe and surrounded by friends even though Riku preferred it when it was just the two of them. “Please try. Try like you have been these last few months, but do it because it’s who you are,” She pointed at his heart. “Because it’s who he was because of you.”

 

His feet felt like lead and his head was pounding, but when Sora looked in Rapunzel’s big, green eyes he nodded and got out of bed.

 

—-

 

The walk from the bedroom he had been sleeping in down to the main hall felt liberating to Sora, for the first time in months he felt like he could be who he had been and who he was now. That Riku wasn’t gone, as long as he smiled whenever he thought of him, as long as everyone he knew who knew Riku would smile whenever Sora spoke of him, as long as every time his Keyblade materialised into his hand he knew Riku believed in him, even when he didn’t believe in himself.

 

“It’s funny,” Rapunzel said suddenly, before Sora could open the door to the courtyard behind the castle where King Mickey was waiting for him. “How sometimes we have to hurt, in order to be happy.”

 

“I don’t think so, not always. But maybe,” Sora flashed her a smile. “The happy after hurt just shines a little brighter. Like a rainbow after a rainstorm. Or the clouds breaking open on a day without sun.”

 

He pushed the door open and stepped into the light.

 

—-

 

The courtyard was white stone, and colorful flowers. Sora had been out there before, with Rapunzel and the king of Corona, with Eugene. It looked just like it did the times before. The king of Corona looked like he always did and King Mickey was there. He could still feel Rapunzel’s presence behind him. The sun was shining, there was a slight breeze and the birds were singing.

 

And in between the two kings was a figure he knew like he knew himself, silver hair catching the sunlight. He was wearing different clothes, dark blue and black. He stood differently, his shoulder relaxed and he seemed almost taller. His hands were folded behind his back, which was turned to Sora.

 

“Riku,” He said, his feet began to move.

 

“It’s Riku,” Moved a little faster.

 

“Riku’s here.” The other turned towards him and unfolded his arms from behind his back, a wide open space beckoning Sora towards him. His eyes were the same aquamarine color, his skin still a faded tan, his smile that smile, _that smile_ he only smiled for Sora.

 

Sora ran the length of the courtyard like he was going to war all by himself again, only this time he’d never wanted anything else but this in his whole life. When his body collided with Riku’s, the taller of them wrapped his arms around him, laughing as he was nearly knocked off balance and spun slowly off kilter around with Sora in his arms to regain his balance. Sora’s arms were fastened around his neck.

 

He tucked his face into Riku’s throat, breathing in the smell of his skin and his hair and Riku’s here, Riku’s here, Riku’s here. “I looked for you!” He cried out in a muffled voice into Riku’s coat. “I looked everywhere for you!”

 

Riku clutched him tighter and his feet lifted off the ground. “I know you did.” When Sora refused to let go of him Riku laughed again. “Come on, Sora, I wanna look at you.” The gentle tone of voice Riku adopted made him lift his face and his grip relaxed. “Mickey told me you’ve been keeping busy, and you made sure everyone was safe.”

 

Sora nodded, settling back down on his feet. “It was the least I could do.”

 

Despite their having an audience Riku touched Sora’s face as if he was in awe of him. “I think you’re magnificent.”

 

 _What a silly thing to say_ , Sora thought as he tried to will away his reddening cheeks. “You know you saved all of us. We had a great enemy who wanted to cover all the worlds in darkness and take people’s peace and lives away from them in the process. And you told him no.” Riku said. “You told him no, and you made sure he could never do it again. None of us could have done that, it was always going to be you.”

 

Riku turned to Mickey and then to the king of Corona when he asked. “Your Majesties, do you mind if I have a minute alone with Sora?”

 

Both kings gave a knowing smile and made their way towards the castle. Mickey turned one last time. “Gosh fellas, I sure am glad everything’s turned out the way it has.”

 

By the time the two kings had left the courtyard, a few tears had slipped down Sora’s cheeks, He was so tired of crying, but he couldn’t help himself. Every emotion he thought he was capable of feeling was trying to fly out of him all at once. Riku was the only thing from him falling to the ground, his grip on Sora’s waist strong. “You’re such a jerk.” Sora said. “Why did you let me think you were gone?”

 

Riku shook his head, tucked his sleeve over his thumb and made a bold attempt to dry Sora’s face. “Because I only just got back.” A strange sense fell over Sora, how different Riku was now, so calm and centered, even moreso than he had been before. “When I started to disappear at the battle I think I knew I was dying. I didn’t even think too hard on it, I was just relieved I got to protect you.” Another tear escaped unbidden from Sora’s eyes. “When I opened my eyes I was… drifting somewhere. Like I was caught in between all the worlds. It was quiet and peaceful there, and for a little while I thought I’d like to stay there.”

 

No more darkness, no more battles, no more hurting. Sora could almost understand how Riku must have felt. He scrubbed at his cheek with one hand but didn’t stop looking at Riku’s face. “A voice asked me if I thought I was done. If I done everything I’d wanted to do.” Riku looked up at the sky. “In a way I guess I had, which is kind of silly for a guy my age to say. But we haven’t lived life the normal way in years.”

 

“What… changed your mind?” Sora asked, his fingers curling into the dark blue coat Riku was wearing.

 

Riku smiled down at him again. “You did.” Sora’s heart fluttered. “I couldn’t stay there, because I wanted to see you again. I knew you’d win, I always believed that and I always will.” He raised a hand to Sora’s face, and touched him like he was sacred. “I had to make sure you believed it, too.”

 

_Sora, you don’t believe that._

 

He dropped his head to rest on Riku’s collar and smiled when he felt Riku rest his cheek on Sora’s head.

 

_I know you don’t._

 

“Well, whoever brought me to wherever I was must have agreed with me because I woke up on the beach on Destiny Islands. When I got to the main island to get into contact with you, someone told me what the date was and I realised it’d been almost six months.” His arms tightened around Sora and pulled him even more snugly against him. “I managed to get a hold of Mickey and he brought me here. He told me everything, that you were having a hard time of it…” He chuckled. “So I knew I’d made the right choice. The only place I want to be is at your side.”

 

Sora sighed Riku’s name into the circle of his arms. He lifted his face towards the greatest friend he’d ever had and told him, “Please, don’t ever leave.”

 

Riku kissed him then, lips firm and warm against Sora’s own. They had become something new, the two of them, something reborn in what remained after Riku had opened the door on their island so many years ago. When they pulled apart Sora laughed.

 

“What will we do now?” Now that they were free and alive and together.

 

Riku knotted his fingers in Sora’s own and pulled them up to their chests, placing them where their hearts were pressed together. “I want to see all the worlds there are to see.” He’d said that once, when he was younger and desperate to escape their home. “I want to see them with you.”

 

Sora closed his eyes when Riku leaned forward to press his lips to his forehead and smiled the happiest smile he ever had.

 

“What are we waiting for?!” He held on tight to Riku's hands and pulled them both towards the sun.

 

“Let’s go!”

**Author's Note:**

> This story is a what-if based entirely on the footage in the final battle trailer. I let my excitement get the better of me. Under no circumstances do I expect for them to go that way in KH3, but I do like to imagine they could.  
> Regardless of where they go with the story, I will be writing a sequel to this. 
> 
> My best friend is proofreading my stories, so shout out to her. 
> 
>  
> 
> I'm on Twitter, if you ever want to gush about KH with me you can find me @laughertea  
> Hope you enjoyed!


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